The book you need to read

When we talk about geography, we reference “East and West” in relation to Christ’s birthplace.

No we don't. What East and West refer to differs depending on who you ask, and where they were born in the world, and when you happen to ask them.

Even if you accept the American or European definition of east and west, there are significant problems with bundling entirely different places into one view of the world - calling India, China and Japan "the east" given their massively different cultures is silly. What do you do with Australia? How do you explain that the shortest route to the "the east" from America is to head west?

And even if you ignore that, early Christian scholars put Jerusalem at the centre of the universe so clearly they weren't particularly grounded in reality.

Regardless of your view of what is east and west, there is no definition of them that cites Jerusalem as the point where west turns in to east and vice versa. This point is just wrong.

From the article: the book is the Bible, because it helps people understand foundational ideas in Western culture.

> Familiarity with it is table stakes for becoming an educated person. Even if you think Christianity is the scourge of civilization, your crusade against it will be stronger if you know what the Bible actually says.

I tried reading the Bible, but it's full of horrifying violence, superstition, and prejudice. Not to mention supremely boring. If you can trudge through all of that turgid, stilted mythology, more power to you, I guess. It certainly doesn't represent my moral principles or philosophy of life.